Suspension gurus come in here

1987stangman · Dec 18, 2007

I feel like a fool for asking this question because I know there can be many answers but I do not like to take my car to shops because I like to do all my work on my own. When it comes to building motors and trouble shooting them and ECM issues I have no troubles but suspension detail is just not my thing.

My 87' feels sloppy on the road, worse on the express-way. Tires are new and I jacked up the front and checked the ball joints and rack which all seem remarkable for cars age and mileage. Last year I replaced the outer and inner tie rods and most recently replaced the rotors, wheel bearings and brakes. I bought this Mustang 100% bone stock right down to the air silencer and exhaust so I know little else has been replaced under the car. I suspect that the struts could be bad up front and possibly in the rear too. What is the most common item (besides ball joints) on these cars that is typical to cause this?

87foxstang · Dec 18, 2007

To cause what...the sloppyness?

Yes, it is most likely your struts/shocks. a new pair will without question make your car feel tighter. Some new springs could help out as well.

Hope this helps

RADIALKILLER · Dec 18, 2007

Check your swaybar bushings and end link bushings aswell.

stang&2Birds · Dec 19, 2007

What's the alignment specs? What did the professionals say when they aligned the car? Could be many things. You can throw money at it if you want.

Your springs are *fine*. Also, bad struts make the car "bouncy", not "sloppy". Struts damp the oscillations from the springs and the bumps.

Could be the strut bushings up top, could be the POS rag joint, could be bad ball joints, could be bad FCA bushings (unlikely), could be bad sway bar bushings (effects how the car responds to any bump), etc.

Push/jump on the front bumper. If the car bounces more than 1-2 times, the struts are shot. Replace them get an alignment, then go from there. The "sloppiness" you feel may be the car bouncing.

Of course, I'm assuming we are talking 100% stock wheels and tire size.

tmoss · Dec 19, 2007

mine wandered and would "suck" into truck tire ruts on asphalt roads, replaced the steering rack and everyhting was tight again. replaced struts and brake upgrade a week ago - no difference in handling, but it's smoother over the bumps now.

Black Sun 5.0 · Dec 19, 2007

I had a sloppy, loose feeling suspension, especially around curves in the road. I replaced all shocks, struts, AND springs, car tightened up real nice.

HISSIN50 · Dec 19, 2007

How does the car feel sloppy exactly? I didnt know how to take that.

1987stangman · Dec 19, 2007

HISSIN50 said:
How does the car feel sloppy exactly? I didnt know how to take that.

Thats what I am trying how to figure out to explain, correctly, anyway. It does bounce more than it should when I press down on the front bumper cover and in the rear too. When I replaced the tie rods and had the front aligned there were no issues, or at least none they wanted to indulge to me. I know that if the ball joints are shot it is pretty hard to align, had that happen on my 01' POS Ram 1500.

To me it feels like the struts are bad and when I take off the line hard it feels mushy in the rear with leads me to think it's stuts and I am pretty sure they are stock and that all of them being shot are creating this effect. Right now its my DD and I gotta haul about 30 miles everyday to work so I gotta figure this out soon so I figure I will start out with new struts/shocks and springs.

And yes, Its stock Turbines.

PUNISHER RACING · Dec 19, 2007

alignment first

criticman · Dec 20, 2007

With stock components, you have at least something needing to be replaced.

A great suspension refresher would be a budget set of shocks/struts and springs -- look for KYB or Tokico (the route I went, very nice results) for a fully matched set designed to work together. Not expensive.

While you're at it, make sure you replace the spring isolators with at least OE pieces, but polyurethane ones from Maximum Motorsports or other vendors can be had for cheap.

Inspect all other bushings for wear (cracks, abnormal coloring, not "seated" inside their housings) and replace all that are worn (once again, at least OE but urethane sets can be had fairly affordably these days).

I would recommend AGAINST getting an alignment done before you replace any of the above items. Reason being, I will almost guarantee you that something will need to be replaced...after which you'll need to get another alignment done. Why waste the money now when you know you'll be doing it again? Instead, save that money and apply it to the parts.

Best of luck. My '93 LX 5.0 with the Tokico set and Maximum Motorsports spring isolators treated me very nicely on backroad twisties -- the BBK strut brace didn't hurt either

Also, check the steering as TMOSS suggested.

Speaking of which, hey HISSIN and TMOSS....hope y'all are doing well. I miss my 5.0...BimmerForums isn't nearly as fun as StangNet was (hence me posting on here right now)...especially since I'm getting the same MPG in the M3 as I was in the 5.0...oh well, still handles better and leather is nice

EDIT: Oh, btw, I feel your pain with your 30 mi drive for work...I am putting 90 miles a day on my car driving to/from work.

PJC Racing · Dec 20, 2007

87foxstang said:
To cause what...the sloppyness?

Yes, it is most likely your struts/shocks. a new pair will without question make your car feel tighter. Some new springs could help out as well.

Hope this helps

How can you make this determination with the information he provided?

1987stangman · Dec 20, 2007

criticman said:
With stock components, you have at least something needing to be replaced.

A great suspension refresher would be a budget set of shocks/struts and springs -- look for KYB or Tokico (the route I went, very nice results) for a fully matched set designed to work together. Not expensive.

While you're at it, make sure you replace the spring isolators with at least OE pieces, but polyurethane ones from Maximum Motorsports or other vendors can be had for cheap.

Inspect all other bushings for wear (cracks, abnormal coloring, not "seated" inside their housings) and replace all that are worn (once again, at least OE but urethane sets can be had fairly affordably these days).

I would recommend AGAINST getting an alignment done before you replace any of the above items. Reason being, I will almost guarantee you that something will need to be replaced...after which you'll need to get another alignment done. Why waste the money now when you know you'll be doing it again? Instead, save that money and apply it to the parts.

Best of luck. My '93 LX 5.0 with the Tokico set and Maximum Motorsports spring isolators treated me very nicely on backroad twisties -- the BBK strut brace didn't hurt either

Also, check the steering as TMOSS suggested.

Speaking of which, hey HISSIN and TMOSS....hope y'all are doing well. I miss my 5.0...BimmerForums isn't nearly as fun as StangNet was (hence me posting on here right now)...especially since I'm getting the same MPG in the M3 as I was in the 5.0...oh well, still handles better and leather is nice

EDIT: Oh, btw, I feel your pain with your 30 mi drive for work...I am putting 90 miles a day on my car driving to/from work.

Thanks for your intelligent reply. Makes sense. I have 6 days worth of x-mas days off so I plan to get up early on Saturday and work on my car. I need to get this squared away by March because I have a built 306 that I have had for nearly 1 year in my garage to put in my car to replace the tired stocker.

I will let you guys know what I come up with. I also have to squeeze in a clutch install in my dads 96' F-150 that I currently have 1/2 done!! No time for pleasure these days....

criticman · Dec 20, 2007

Wow you sound like me! I had performance parts always just sitting around waiting to go on when I had the 'stang. Never had time (or failed to make it).

If you can get the parts all tracked down and get 1-2 friends to help, you can have all four corners of the suspension replaced in no time (5 hours from what I recall, with a pizza run in the middle).

Good luck, let us know what you find. I'll make a point to check back.

Glaze · Dec 22, 2007

You have replaced the front bearings but i have made the mistake of not tightening them up correctly on my 93 coupe. Once i retightened correctly it stopped being sloppy all over the road. Jacking up the front of car off ground allowed me to check for excessive vertical/horzontal play.

Also my front shocks were wore out causing stiffness that felt really bad over the highway and bumpy roads which from what you told us.

Also a note, your car is 20 years old and if its still got stock rubber bushings they will allow more play than when new. Not saying this is causing all your problems but its adding to it esp when a suspension/steering component is failing/woreout. I am a stickler when it comes to steering and suspension and i want my cars to be like when they were new. I have found replacement polyurathane bushing kit to really wake up the firmness. Of course its an involved process too that most take to a professional as dealing with springs can be dangerous and need for a press for control arm bushings. Guess it all comes down to how much you want to upgrade the suspension for your application/taste for driving.

Repostyle · Dec 22, 2007

criticman said:
Wow you sound like me! I had performance parts always just sitting around waiting to go on when I had the 'stang. Never had time (or failed to make it).

If you can get the parts all tracked down and get 1-2 friends to help, you can have all four corners of the suspension replaced in no time (5 hours from what I recall, with a pizza run in the middle).

Good luck, let us know what you find. I'll make a point to check back.

That was a long pizza run. It took me about 2.5 hours to do all that when I lowered my car without help. 3.5 hours total for me, but I did brake pads all the way around too since I had the wheels off anyway.

You're going to need an impact gun to get the top nut on the front struts loose otherwise they just spin. Some people on here might have a trick for that if you don't have one. The rear shocks do the same thing, but not as bad.

criticman · Dec 22, 2007

Repostyle said:
That was a long pizza run. It took me about 2.5 hours to do all that when I lowered my car without help. 3.5 hours total for me, but I did brake pads all the way around too since I had the wheels off anyway.

You're going to need an impact gun to get the top nut on the front struts loose otherwise they just spin. Some people on here might have a trick for that if you don't have one. The rear shocks do the same thing, but not as bad.

Well aren't you special, LOL. It was a long pizza run. When I did it several years back, it was during the holidays, sitting in traffic, waiting in line for pizza, then more sitting in traffic. It sucked.

I didn't need an impact gun to do any of the work. Simple hand tools and a couple of large floor jacks were all I needed. I rented a spring compressor but ended up not needing it -- thankfully that was free.

EDIT: More I think about it, I would have to say there were too many friends trying to help. Two people would've gone better than the 5 (+me). A lot of goofing off and "let me try that" or "why are you doing it that way this would work better" crap.

HISSIN50 · Dec 22, 2007

This stuff isn't a race. I'm fairly proficient but like to go slow and take my time. I like to check other parts in the area and double check my work as I go. Doing it this way, I can generally specifically remember every single torque value I achieved (otherwise I sometimes wonder if I remembered to double check a torque value, dress a fastener with threadlock or neverseize, etc).

To remove the top strut nut without air tools, you can use one of those long prybars that looks like a flat screwdriver with a bent tip. Put it in the strut slot sideways (so the tool is horizontal - this gives you leverage when the strut rod tries to turn). Now just put a box-end wrench on the nut and spin it out. Install is reverse of removal.

Suspension gurus come in here

1987stangman

Member

87foxstang

Member

RADIALKILLER

New Member

stang&2Birds

tmoss

Gettin Wired

Black Sun 5.0

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

1987stangman

Member

PUNISHER RACING

Active Member

criticman

Member

PJC Racing

New Member

1987stangman

Member

criticman

Member

Glaze

New Member

Repostyle

Member

criticman

Member

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

Similar threads

Suspension gurus come in here

Member

Member

New Member

Gettin Wired

"How long does it take to get help in here?

Member

Active Member

Member

New Member

Member

Member

New Member

Member

Member

"How long does it take to get help in here?

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency